Top 9 Free and New Android Apps for November 2018

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What do you look for when you are searching for new apps? Does it have to be 'just' functional, or it should have some added features as well? In my case, it should be the perfect amalgamation of productivity and functionality along with a simple yet beautiful interface. Too much to ask for, as someone would say. Thankfully, such apps do exist, and our list for the free Android apps for November 2018 proves that.

This month's best Android apps list has two 'almost-perfect' launchers, an ultra-cool link sharing app, among other interesting ones. And hey, if you love gaming, don't forget to check this post till the end!

So let's take a closer look.

1. Hyperion Launcher

If you have been a long-term Android user, you must know the advantage of launchers. Honestly, these apps can make or break the Android experience. At present, many established launchers like Nova, APEX, and Action Launcher reign the market. However, that hasn't stopped developers from exploring new ones. And Hyperion Launcher is the newest app to join the herd.

The developers of Hyperion have termed it as an experience by bringing the best features of the popular launchers under a single roof. For a new launcher, Hyperion is smart, clean and amazingly smooth. And trust me, I am not exaggerating.

I have held on to Nova like a leech ever since I moved from iOS to Android. And to be honest, Hyperion was one of those rare apps which made me think twice before switching back to Nova.

That is mainly because it borrows a few things heavily from Nova. Default actions like app launches or pulling the app drawer are same.

There's a dedicated button to access the Google Assistant from the home screen

However, Hyperion comes with a few customization tweaks of its own. From desktop to app launch animation, you can customize a lot here. Plus, there's a dedicated button to access the Google Assistant from the home screen. What I loved about this app is its smoothness, and it worked like a charm on my Galaxy S9 Plus.

2. Niagara Launcher

Another cool launcher to hit the Play Store is the Niagara Launcher. Unlike typical launchers, it doesn't boast of hordes of customization hacks and tweaks. What it does offer you is a clean, minimalistic and clutter-free experience.

Instead of a conventional home screen, you can choose to access your favorite apps quickly. Once done, the launcher will arrange those apps in a neat list on the home screen. The rest of the apps are accessible by scrolling upward.

The Google search bar transforms into a little pill at the bottom, which you can access easily even when using a phone with a single hand. This pill-shaped Google search also changes into an app search button when you scroll down for apps. What's impressive about Niagara is the scrolling feature, as you can see in the GIF above.

Another cool feature is that the notifications of the favorite apps can be seen right on the home screen. The app hasn't been officially released and is still in the beta phase so that you may encounter a few bugs sometimes. But if I were you, I would go all in for this unique experience. If you are on a lookout for a simple distraction-free launcher, this is the app for you.

Cool Fact: 8bitpit, a member of the popular phone-centric XDA developers forum, has developed this app.

3. Otter Voice Notes

The newest app to join the army of note keeping apps is Otter Voice Notes. As you have already guessed, the crux of this app is that it can take voice notes. Not only that it also allows you to search for a particular voice note using keywords. Otter Voice Notes supports only the English language.

As far as voice recognition is concerned, it can make out almost all the words. The execution isn't 100% accurate though. It does miss a few words in between.

4. AirForShare

AirForShare is a file sharing app which uses Wi-Fi to transfer files, text, and website links to devices on the same network. The app is straightforward and easy to understand. All you have to do is write a few lines of text on the app (which you want to transfer).

Once done, open the app's desktop site and the same would be available on the browser. Just copy the text and carry on your work as usual.

The same is true for files and links. Just drag and drop it in the box. The best thing about AirForShare is that it's a two-way system and you can transfer content to and fro seamlessly.

Pro Tip: When it comes to privacy, AirForShare claims to delete the file records after thirty minutes. However, we recommend you not to upload any sensitive or personal documents and information, since anyone connected to the same network can view and download them.

5. Tweet2Pic

Well, the name pretty much spells out the whole story. Tweet2Pic is the perfect app for you if you love to take screenshots of tweets. It converts tweets to small PNG images that you can then share on Instagram and Facebook.

All you have to do is copy the link of the tweet, paste it and then the app will take care of the rest. Tweet2Pic has a few extra features such as dark background, hide the parent tweet, square image, among others.

6. Typography Master

Though Typography Master is already a few months old, I felt its feature set made it unique and a must-include app to this list. As suggestive of its name, it comes with an array of beautiful and stylish fonts that you can customize as per your liking. The best thing about this app is that you can open an image from your phone's gallery, write on top of it, and share the same on Instagram or Facebook.

You can choose from over two dozen different styles and fonts. Just enter your text and select a font. Double tap on an option until you get one of your choices. Save it and tada! Your image with chic fonts will be ready in an instant.

7. SAFE

The current sorry state of privacy and security doesn’t make things any easier. Hence, it's imperative that the installed apps are secure for our phones. Security Assessment Framework for Everyone (aka SAFE) attempts to prevent any misuse by actively monitoring the phone against vulnerabilities like suspicious apps and loose device configuration.

The SAFE score appears between 0 and 5, and as you may have guessed, a low score means a poor security configuration.

For example, if the sleep time of your phone is more than a minute or notifications show up on the lock screen, SAFE strikes down a point or two. The same goes for the security patches, as well as other vulnerable connection points of your phone like NFC, Bluetooth, etc.

My SAFE score is a miserable 2.6. It's high time, I shielded the lock screen notifications and reduced the sleep time. What's yours?

8. Rain Moment

Do you have trouble falling asleep in a silent room? Would you rather fall asleep with the sounds of gentle rain falling?

If your answer is yes, then this is the app for you. Rain Moment plays soothing sounds of well, raindrops falling. You can choose from over 5 different sounds — Ocean Storm, Night Rain, Rain on Leaves, among others.

The best part of this app is that you can select the sleep time, which can go up to a couple of hours. Moreover, you use this as an alarm clock, just in case you prefer to wake up to gentle alarm tones.

9. Wallpaper for Gamers

Last but not least, we have the Wallpaper for Gamers app. Just four weeks, this neat wallpaper app has curated more than five hundred thousand downloads. From Minecraft to The Elder Scrolls, not to mention PUBG and Call of Duty, this app has hundreds of images for the game lover in you.

What I loved about this app is that it segregates the wallpapers neatly into categories — game names. However, before you set high hopes for this app, let me warn you that the wallpapers are not available in high-resolution.

Go, Get Them All

These are some of the best free Android apps that were released in the last few months. An app not only has to be functional but it should also help you being productive at the same time. And the Niagara Launcher fits this description. Not only does it does its job well but also helps in keeping distracting notifications at bay.

So, which of these will be the first to make it to your Android phone?